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Published by TasekPauh Blogspot
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 10:00 PM.

Malaysian Muslim activists in Rushdie protest

About 300 Islamic opposition party activists staged peaceful protests outside the British and US embassies in Malaysia today (June 29, 2007), denouncing Salman Rushdie’s knighthood and Washington’s policies in the Middle East.

About 300 Islamic opposition party activists staged peaceful protests outside the British and US embassies in Malaysia today, denouncing Salman Rushdie’s knighthood and Washington’s policies in the Middle East.

Dozens of riot police backed by a water cannon-equipped truck guarded Kuala Lumpur’s diplomatic enclave, as members of the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, the country’s main opposition group, marched to the British High Commission following afternoon prayers at a nearby mosque.

Protesters spent 15 minutes outside the building, chanting slogans and waving posters that read “Unite for Islam,” “Death penalty for Salman” and “Salman Rushdie Get Lost From This World”.

One poster bore a caricature of Rushdie with horns on his head.

Rushdie’s knighthood was announced earlier this month on the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, decided on by independent committees that vet nominations from the public and the government.

Rushdie went into hiding after Iran’s late spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, ordering Muslims to kill the author because his novel The Satanic Verses allegedly insulted Islam.

It was the second time that PAS has protested outside the British mission over the knighthood decision. Muslims also have demonstrated over the issue in London, Pakistan and Iran.

PAS members also rallied for 20 minutes outside the US Embassy, shouting “Down with Bush!” and “Crush America!”

PAS official Salbiah Abdul Wahab said the US was trying to dominate Muslim countries and was interfering “all over the world”. IOL

Ezam, who now heads Gerak, a movement for democracy and anti-corruption, brought the 632-page document at 10.30am to support the allegations of corruption and criminal breach of trust. He was accompanied by several supporters.

Speaking after handing over the document to the prime minister’s senior private secretary, Ahmad Yaacob, Ezam said the document comprised two police reports lodged against the minister in 1998, statements from the Malaysian Commission of Companies, receipts and payment invoices amounting to millions of ringgit.

Gerak, he said, would leave it to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to reveal the identity of the minister concerned as "it involves a serving minister and not a former minister".

Ezam recently resigned from PKR, where he had served as its youth chief. NSTOnline

June 29 - A Malaysian government official identified as "Najib Razak" was photographed with a Mongolian woman and her lover who is now on trial in connection with her murder, a witness testified Friday.

The testimony electrified the courtroom and sparked angry exchanges between the prosecution and a lawyer for the family of the dead woman, who alleged in court that an aide to Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak had directed that the victim be taken away before her death.

Najib Razak is close to Abdul Razak Baginda, 47, a political analyst charged with abetting the murder in October last year of Altantuya Shaariibuu, 28. more here.

He said although the government was fully prepared, private sector awareness towards this disease was still low as they were unaware of the seriousness of its impact, should the disease hit any country in the region.

"What we do not have is the cooperation from the private sector. They are not fully aware of the risks.

"We hope the private sector in Malaysia would put in place the contigency plan in the event of a pandemic avian influenza hitting Malaysia," he told reporters after officiating the Malaysian Society of Gastrointestinal Diseases here, Monday.

He said the Ministry had recently conducted a briefing with representatives from various business organisations on the urgent need to set up an action plan in case of a birdflu pandemic.

On the update of the birdflu outbreak in the country, Dr Chua said all the four patients admitted to hospitals following contact with dead chickens were tested negative for birdflu.

He added that the flock of chicken which were suspected to have died of birdflu in Kuala Terengganu last Saturday were also tested H5N1 negative.

"In Sungai Buloh, we have not detected any case of human bird flu. The four patients admitted will be allowed to go back if their fever drops today and returns to normal.

"This is another good sign in Malaysia. Every time they see dead chicken, they come to hospital," he said.

He added that the Ministry was also monitoring health conditions of the frontliners involved in culling and monitoring works on a weekly basis.

"There are some 200,000 of them, health officers, veterinary officers who are involved in culling and the police," he said.

Asked about the outcome of the 2nd Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) Health Ministers Meeting in Sydney, Australia on June 7 and 8 which he attended, Dr Chua said the member countries agreed to cooperate to fight against any potential global bird flu pandemic.

They also reaffirmed commitment to share samples of any new birdflu strain in the effort to safeguard humans from the deadly pandemic.

SINGAPORE, June 10 - A young Muslim Singaporean law graduate has been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for planning militant activities, after being influenced by radical ideas online.

He is part of what the Home Affairs Ministry on Friday described as a troubling new phenomenon of individuals who are 'self-radicalised' and not directly recruited by established terrorist groups.

Abdul Basheer Abdul Kader, 28, earned his law degree from the National University of Singapore. He practised law at a top firm here and later became a polytechnic lecturer.

His militant views were shaped by the Internet and last year, he left for a Middle East country to learn Arabic for communicating with 'mujahidin' fighters.

Very soon, the extremist propaganda on the Net so influenced him that he bought a plane ticket to Pakistan, where he planned to get training for a militant jihad or holy war and to go into Afghanistan and join the Taleban.

His plans were thwarted when he was arrested and detained in February this year.

The ministry also said that between November 2006 and April 2007, four Singaporean JI members had been detained.

It said one of them - Ishak Mohamed Noohu - was a senior member of the Singapore JI network and had been part of a team that had planned to hijack an airplane in order to crash it into Singapore's Changi Airport.

Under Singapore's Internal Security Act, authorities can detain suspects indefinitely without immediate public notice of the arrests.

The ministry said Ishak and the three other JI members had left Singapore just before or after a December 2001 security operation against the JI network, while Abdul Basheer had left Singapore in October 2006.

It did not say whether the five men were arrested in Singapore or abroad.

The ministry also said five other JI detainees were released on June 1. Four of those men had been detained since September 2002. One had been detained since February 2007.

The Home Affairs ministry said in September it was holding 34 suspected Muslim militants in detention under internal security laws, which allow for indefinite detention without trial. The ministry did not detail how many militants are currently being held, following the five new arrests and the five releases. – Straits Times/Reuters

PETALING JAYA, 10 June - A teenager in Terengganu who reared poultry that have since died has been admitted to hospital for fever and cough.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said in a statement Sunday that the Terengganu Health Department had reported that at 2pm on Saturday, a 16-year old boy from Seberang Takir, whose chickens and ducks had died, was admitted to the Kuala Terengganu Hospital.

He added that a specimen had been sent to the Institute for Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur to test for the avian flu virus.

The Kuala Terengganu Veterinary Services Department had investigated the poultry and sent a sample for analysis at the Veterinary Research Institute in Ipoh and results would be known within a day.

Dr Chua also said that a 31-year old man who worked at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre had been referred to the Sungai Buloh Hospital and subsequently warded there.

The man lived at the Subang Suria apartment, which is within a 300m to 400m radius of where the virus had been detected. He is reported to be in stable condition.

The avian flu virus was detected last Tuesday in Kg Paya Jaras Hilir in Sungai Buloh.

Dr Chua said that active surveillance was no longer being carried out as all homes within 300m of the location had been visited and interviews with residents had been completed.

"Monitoring and observation are being focussed on the 30 residents of Kg Paya Jaras Hilir who have been put under home surveillance, and all are healthy. This activity will last for a week from the last day of culling," he said.

He said that the nine cases in Sungai Buloh and Malacca had tested negative for the avian flu virus, adding that five cases at the Sungai Buloh hospital were allowed to go home while the remaining two had been transferred to a normal ward for suspicion of dengue fever.

The two cases in Malacca and two siblings in Kedah were discharged. theStarOnline

The deputy prime minister said Umno veterans could play an important role to disseminate ideas and inject a new spirit for party members to work hard to ensure a BN victory.

"They've a role to play because by working together, it'll make BN stronger and this will ensure a win in Kelantan," he said in a function attended by Umno veterans and non-governmental organisations here today.

Najib, who is Umno deputy president, said the party had always appreciated the role of the veterans in realising the leaders' aspiration to turn Malaysia into a developed country.

"This is what we want, to make Kelantan a developed state like other states. It's for this reason that all should work together," he added.

He hoped party members would enhance solidarity and have a strong determination to ensure a successful outing for the ruling coalition.

Najib also said the Kelantan government under PAS was now shaky and there were bright prospects for BN to wrest control of the state from the opposition party, reports Bernama.

Meanwhile, Kelantan Umno Liaison Committee chairman Datuk Seri Annuar Musa said the party was making its final preparation for the upcoming general election and had outlined various strategies to ensure PAS' defeat. sun2surf

PUTRAJAYA, June 7 (Bernama) - Nadiah and Nadene, the daughters of Jeanne Abdullah, are happy that their mother and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also their uncle, would be married on Saturday.

"We are both very glad for our mum and uncle," said Nadiah when contacted by BERNAMA.

Nadiah, 29, said two good people have managed to find each other and the most important thing was they are happy and would be able to look after each other and keep each other company.

The daughters, on behalf of their mother, also thanked family, friends and the public for their warm wishes and blessings.

"We are very grateful for all the support," said Nadiah who runs a visual communications company in Kuala Lumpur.

Nadene, 27, is involved in the fashion industry, dealing with fashion-related and lifestyle projects.

The Prime Minister's Office yesterday announced the marriage which would take place at the prime minister's official residence "Seri Perdana" and to be attended by close relatives.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 (Bernama) - Eighty-two per cent of respondents who took part in a survey on possible segregation of male and female National Service (NS) trainees are against the idea, National Service Training Council (MLKN) chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said.

Bird flu reappears in MalaysiaKUALA LUMPUR, June 6 - An isolated new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been detected among poultry in a village on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital, officials said Wednesday. Kamarudin Mohammed Isa, head of the disease control section at the Department of Veterinary Services, said the virus was confirmed late Tuesday night in chickens in the Sungei Buluh area of Selangor state. "We will cull birds within a one kilometre (0.6 mile) radius from the index cases," he said, noting that authorities expected to start killing about 2,000 chickens in the village and surrounding area later Wednesday. The veterinary department was alerted Sunday by the owner of the infected chickens after about 60 of his birds died, said Kamarudin. Surveillance teams are being sent to surrounding areas to check for more virus outbreaks but none so far has been detected, he said. "We hope it will remain that way," said Kamarudin. The ministry of agriculture said in a statement that "this is an isolated case which does not involve a lot of dead chickens". However Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned against complacency. "They have to identify and quickly take whatever measures to prevent it from spreading," he told reporters. In neighbouring Singapore, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said it would immediately suspend poultry and egg imports from Selangor as a precaution, while imports from other parts of Malaysia will continue. Malaysia suffered outbreaks of avian influenza among poultry in early 2006, but there were no human cases and the nation declared itself free of the disease last June. In March this year officials said the country was on high alert for a possible outbreak of bird flu following fresh reports of the deadly virus around the region. Malaysia said it imposed tight security at border checkpoints where poultry and by-products were known to be brought in illegally. Neighbouring Indonesia, the country worst hit by bird flu, has recorded 99 human infections, 79 of them fatal. Thailand has reported 25 human bird flu cases, including 17 fatalities. H5N1 has killed 188 people and ravaged poultry flocks worldwide since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation. Scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form easily spread among humans, leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions. - AFP/ch/so

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Published by TasekPauh Blogspot
on Sunday, June 03, 2007 at 7:35 AM.

Electoral reforms: Pressure to continue, says president

KOTA BHARU, June 2 - Pressure against Election Commission (EC) will continue despite the body's announcement to introduce the use of indelible ink to prevent multiple voting, Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said.

Abdul Hadi who welcomed the announcement and "agreed to it in principle" however noted that there were other demands made by the coalition of political parties, trade unions and non-governmental organisations calling themselves as BERSIH that has yet to be entertained by EC.

He noted that the other short term demands were for the electoral rolls to be revamped and for the use of postal votes to be abolished.

"We won't stop (to press for electoral reforms)," he said in a press conference at the sidelines of the 53rd PAS annual general assembly, here today.

He also noted that details on the use of the indelible ink such as the type of ink and how it is going to be used has yet to be made known.

Asked on a concern that the EC which has ruled out the suggestion earlier might crumble to political pressure from the ruling party from introducing the measure, Abdul Hadi declined to speculate.

"That's why I'm only responding to it in principle," he said.

Apart from the short term demands, BERSIH has also demanded for the first-past-the-post system currently in use to be replaced with the proportionate representation system.

The opposition won about 40 per cent votes in the last general election but secured less than 10 percent seats in parliament in a general election marred with irregularities. PAS has brought the case to court and the outcome has yet to be determined.

Asked on the next move to be made to ensure that the other demands would be met, Abdul Hadi said the action to be taken would depend on EC's next move.

June 2 - The Lebanese army has continued to shell the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon as Fatah al-Islam fighters hiding inside vow to fight to the last man.

Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister, said on Saturday that the only option for members of the group was to give up their weapons and surrender.

"This is a terrorist gang," he said in a TV interview. "They have to surrender themselves and their arms."

But Abu Salim Taha, Fatah al-Islam spokesman inside the camp, said: "There is no way we will give up our weapons because it is our pride. We cannot even contemplate surrendering."

Camp penetrated

"Security sources have told us that the Lebanese army has managed to penetrate a few hundred metres into the camp," Zheina Khodr, Al Jazeera's correspondent outside the camp near Tripoli, said. More at alJazeera

KUALA LUMPUR, May 31, 2007 - Islam is not above the Federal Constitution, and the decision by the Federal Court on Lina Joy's appeal was not politically motivated, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

"One must have a hole in the head to say it was a political decision. We've never asked or pressured the court to make political decisions," he said.

"The problem here is emotion, and if one allows emotion to control [him/her], this is what will happen and one will have all kinds of things in the head, including suspicion."

He was asked to comment on allegations that the court's decision was politically motivated.

The three-member panel of judges, in a 2-1 judgment on Wednesday, dismissed Lina's appeal to have the word "Islam" removed from her identity card after she converted to Christianity, without an apostasy certificate from the syariah court.

Abdullah said Islam was not above the Federal Constitution. "This country upholds the Constitution and supremacy of the law, otherwise, we would have become a failed state.

"We must uphold our Constitution and all laws are made in Parliament and by Parliament. That is made of all sorts of members and it is a multiracial Parliament," he said after chairing the Umno Supreme Council meeting.

He dismissed allegations that the two Muslim judges on the panel - Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and Datuk Alauddin Mohd Sheriff - had ruled in favour of their own religion.

He said he believed the judges would have made the decision after taking into account all the facts.

Asked to comment on a foreign news report alleging that Malaysia did not favour Christianity, he said if that were the case, there would be no churches and Christians in the country.

"There is a lot of similarities between Muslims and Christians, including in our beliefs in the prophets, but only the names are different.

"Muslims believe the birthday of Nabi Isa is on Dec 25 but we don't celebrate it. We have the Hari Raya, and in fact there are many other dates of celebrations of prophets that we know (of), but we never celebrate."

Asked about the problems faced by those who wanted to renounce Islam with the syariah court, he said this was a different matter and needed to be dealt with.

Commenting on Lina's appeal, several legal minds said a full bench should have been empanelled to hear it.

Former High Court judge Prof Datuk Seri Dr Visu Sinnadurai expressed concern that only three judges heard the appeal that resulted in a split decision.

"I am sure many were surprised that Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim did not empanel a full bench because this was a very important case - it was not any ordinary commercial law case - it involved several constitutional law issues and many other important questions of law.

"Furthermore, the appeal before the Federal Court originated from a two-one (split) decision from the Court of Appeal," he told theSun today.

"The case involves constitutional, administrative and human rights issues, and in most countries, including the US, India or Australia, such an important case would have a bigger quorum.

"If there was a bench of five or seven judges hearing Lina's case, the decision may possibly have been different," he said.

Senior lawyer Karpal Singh said: "In view of the case's significance, the full Federal Court bench should have determined it."

In as statement, he called for the landmark decision to be reviewed by a nine-member bench. "I call upon the government to repeal Article 121 (1A) of the Federal Constitution which came into force in 1988. Before then, there was no controversy of freedom of religion in the country," he said.

Meanwhile, Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) general-secretary Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri clarified that he supported the dissenting judgment by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Richard Malanjum.

"We have to live with the Federal Court judgment, but remember there was a dissenting judgment. I support that decision as the issue is in conflict with the Federal Constitution which allows Lina Joy to exercise her right to choose her faith and life."

The Centre for Public Policy Studies said in a statement the strong dissenting judgment indicates disagreement at the highest level and points to the urgent need to re-address the issue.

Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan said the Constitution is and must remain supreme in law. "In the event of any inconsistency or conflict between the provisions of state enactments and of the Federal Constitution, the latter must prevail," she said in a statement.

"The religion that a person professes must be the religion that that person states he or she professes; since there can be no evidential difficulty in ascertaining this in the case of a living person.

"Asserting this right, and upholding it, in no way undermines the position of any religion under the Federal Constitution and is consistent with the position of Islam under Article 3," Ambiga said. sun2surf